Recent Sermons & Reflections

Isaiah 12:2-6 Matthew 20:20-28

Agatha Christie wrote that ‘A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no laws, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that sticks in its path.’ Which to me sounds incredibly harsh and would suggest a real ‘tiger mother’ But this said it would seem that a lot of her daughter’s early care was provided by  her grandparents while her mother was busy carving out her literary career which brought her such fame as well as goodness know what riches! But such quibbles apart I can agree with her opening words that a mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world.   Our children may send us demented at times but their wellbeing and happiness will always I think be central to the lives of the vast majority of mothers and for that matter fathers too.

We want our children to do well, we want them to be duly rewarded for their skills and talents, we want them to be happy and fulfilled and quite simply we want the very best for them. And recognising this I think we can sympathise with the mother of James and John when she made that request to Jesus for her precious sons to be given top places in heaven, Surely, after all they had given up in order to devote their lives to following Jesus was ample proof of their right to be so rewarded and never mind there were ten other apostles who could also qualify for such prestigious places.  Fishing may at times have been a precarious occupation for  her sons , but it brought in the money and ensured there would always be plenty of tasty fish dishes for their supper And I feel pretty certain that Jesus completely understood and indeed was sympathetic to  and maybe even a little amused  by that request; he knew what in effect that mum had sacrificed in seeing her sons leave all with which they were familiar and join this man in his peripatetic, hugely  demanding and most uncertain life not to forget a questionable future.

Whether that request was granted we may or may not ever know or indeed where  that aspiring mother of her so called Sons of Thunder was seated at that heavenly banquet but what I do think is that her maternal bosom  would swell with pride for the way in which both her sons’ memories over more than two thousand years have been remembered  and revered in part through all the churches and cathedrals which have been named in their honour among which of course is this ancient church of Abinger whose patronal festival in honour of James is being held this morning. In the list of dedications of English churches St James ranks as ninth while his brother John only makes it to twelve, But across God’s world goodness knows how many churches and cathedrals have been dedicated to James. The most famous of course is Santiago da Compostela where James’ body is claimed to lie along with those of two of his disciples St Athanasius and   St Theodore. Traditionally James’ remains were discovered by a shepherd or in another version of the story by a hermit early in the ninth century although quite how they got there remains a mystery This amazing find led to the local community building a small chapel in his honour. But how thrilled  Mum must have been when in 1003 work began on building a huge cathedral dedicated to him and which at one point is history boasted the title of the tallest building in Europe at some seventy-six metres. And how thrilled she must be that annually over one million people come to this shrine to honour her son among of which about half have walked the Camino de Santiago as pilgrims finding rest at night at one of the fifty thousand beds provided by one thousand five hundred albergues. What other apostolic mother could boast such a claim?

And here in England we have just the   one cathedral dedicated to St James and that is the one in Bury st Edmund’s. Originally it was simply a church dedicated to St Denis, not even an apostle, but then in the early twelfth century Abbot Anselm wanted himself to make a pilgrimage to Santiago da Compostela but for some reason I could not ascertain failed to do so but instead to make up for his disappointment rebuilt the church and rededicated it to James. Bet Denis’ mum was cross.!  And then hooray hooray in 1914  the church was elevated to the status of cathedral making James’ Mum swell with even more pride at such a promotion,

So yes, all around the world churches will at this time be honouring St James as has been done ever since his beheading; the first of the original twelve apostles to be martyred. So apart from lots of splendid music and  a few facts about our patron saint what else does today mean for us and what would James’ mum   ask of us? What would she like to see us do in imitation of her sons? Is it simply enough that we have turned up this morning or would she and indeed James himself, our patron, our father figure, expect more of us in service to our Lord; the service which so dearly cost James his life?  And for me the answer lies in today’s collect and the passage read from Isaiah.  The words of the collect are crystal clear ‘help us, forsaking the false attraction s of the world, to be ready at all times to answer your call without delay.’ That is exactly what James and John did when they without pause for thought for reconsideration left their nets without delay and followed Jesus. Can we claim that we have done the same whenever Christ has called us to act in his service or have the false attractions of the world prevented us from so doing? A question we might like to carefully consider on our way home after this service. And the wonderful words of the Isaiah reading also tells us how we are to, act in God’s name ‘Behold, God is my salvation: I will trust and not be afraid. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. On that day you will say, “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name”; Make known his deeds among the nations, proclaim that his name is exalted.’ And how do we best carry out this commandment and again the answer surely lies with Jesus’ first instruction to those four-fisherman James and John, Simon Peter and Andrew: ‘From now on you will be catching people.’ Catching people by sharing God’s love with them; by giving food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, welcome to the stranger, care of the sick, a visit to those imprisoned.’ Teaching them of that love which is extended to all God’s children; an unparalleled love which was revealed through the incomparable sacrifice of his own Son. A love which drove James to fearlessly preach that gospel of redemptive love no matter that it also cost him his life knowing without a doubt that God truly was his salvation and knowing that he could trust implicitly and not be afraid. Can we do our very best to imitate him and know in so doing that while we certainly won’t have the seats of honour in heaven both James and his mum would surely be at least a little bit proud of us. And who knows our own mums   might well be vociferously protesting that we merited a higher place at that heavenly banquet! Whatever the truth may we with true joy and thankfulness sing today both God’s praises and those of his devoted and obedient apostle James.